Chapter 1: Flying Practice
Chapter 1: Flying Practice
It was morning in Cloudsdale, the sun was shining through the thick
white clouds that surrounded the town, blanketing it's residents in a
soft warm light, And Scootaloo was still fast asleep in her newly
purchased cloud bed, dreaming...
"Scoots!..."
Rainbow Dash's voice echoed through the house
"C'mon, it's time for breakfast!"
Scootaloo rolled over In her bed, letting the sun's rays bathe her in
a blanket of golden light, as she let herself gently wake up from her
deep slumber.
"Mmmm... coming"
She said in a soft but audible voice, stretching out her legs and wings.
Since Rainbow Dash had taken her in, Scootaloo had been sleeping
better, eating more, and well... smiling more.
Scootaloo always insisted that it must be Rainbow Dash's personality
rubbing off on her, but Rainbow Dash knew the real reason that
Scootaloo was now happier than before.
Rainbow Dash cringed to think of what it must have been like for her.
Scootaloo trotted downstairs to a table laid out for two, but with
enough food to feed a family of five!
"Eat up squirt" Rainbow Dash said with a smile;
"big day today!"
Scootaloo grinned, and sat down at the table.
"Thanks Rainbow Dash!"
She said enthusiastically, eyeing the blueberry pancakes with anticipation.
"Ok, Keep your eyes fixed firmly on the target, you with me kid?"
Rainbow Dash quickly turned around when she got no answer to see
Scootaloo galloping as fast as she could behind her, her small
underdeveloped wings buzzing wildly in a vein attempt to gain
altitude.
"Wait Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo shouted, panting with the effort of
trying to keep up with the fully grown Pegasus.
Rainbow Dash slowed down, turned around and landed gently, a few feet
away from scootaloo.
"Oh, sorry Scoots, I guess I got a little carried away huh?"
"You..." The filly panted;
"flew off without me!"
"I'm sorry kid, C'mon, let's take off together, and I'll go slowly this time"
Scootaloo, still panting, looked at Rainbow Dash with a look of dread
and exhaustion on her face, now red with overexertion.
"But... I think we should go and get a milkshake from Sugarcube Corner first..."
Scootaloo's expression changed in a matter of seconds, from dread to relief.
"Thanks" she said, letting out a sigh.
"No sweat" Rainbow Dash said coolly "we'll continue practice tomorrow
after school if you want"
So they made their way swiftly to Sugarcube Corner, it wasn't too far
away, as Rainbow Dash always took Scootaloo to a field in Ponyville
for practice, so that if she fell, at least she would have something
relatively soft to land on, rather than a drop leading to almost
certain death.
When they got inside, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo went up to the
counter, where Mr. Cake was standing, waiting to take their orders.
"A Double Cookie Crumble for me, and what do you want Scoots?"
Scootaloo was daydreaming, lost in a world of her own imagination and control.
"Scoots?!"
"Scoot!"
"Huh?" Scootaloo replied coming out of her self induced trance with blurry eyes.
"what Milkshake would you like?..." Rainbow Dash repeated with a
concerned expression on her face.
"oh... uh, Caramel Twist please" the filly Pegasus said.
"If I know Scoots, something is up, and I'm gonna find out what."
Rainbow Dash thought to herself as she paid for the drinks and brought
them over to an empty table, by a window, Scootaloo following closely
behind.
As she placed their drinks on the table, Rainbow changed her normal
sitting position from opposite Scootaloo, to next to her.
Rainbow extended her foreleg and gently placed it on Scootaloo's back
slowly running it up and down in a soothing manor.
"Scoots..." She hesitated,
"is everything... alright?"
She said slowly, still looking at the filly who was now playing with her straw.
Scootaloo looked up at her idle, not wanting to worry her,
"Of course, I-I'm fine!" She said, quite unconvincingly.
"Really?" Said Rainbow,
"Cuz, I don't think so..."
"No! Uh, sorry, I'm fine honestly..."
"Scoots, you know that whatever is bothering you, I can't make it go
away unless you tell me what it is." Rainbow said now looking straight
into Scootaloo's eyes "come on, you can trust me."
"I SAID I'M FINE OK?!"
Scootaloo looked down at the table realising that she had just shouted
at the pony who was trying to help her, her eyes filled with tears and
she tried to apologise but no words came out, so she just sat there on
the verge of crying.
Rainbow Dash eased off, realising that this must be worse than she had
thought, and that it was going to take more than a milkshake to find
out what was wrong.
When they got home, Rainbow let Scootloo do as she pleased, she still
looked down.
At dinner, ( Rainbow had put extra effort in tonight ) she sat
opposite Scootaloo as per usual, watching the sad filly as she ate the
meal that the older Pegasus had prepared for her.
After they had finished desert, Scootaloo stayed at the table for
reasons Rainbow still doesn't understand, but she took this
opportunity to have another go at trying to find out what was going
on.
"Scoot..." she said as she leaned down to the younger Pegasus' level
"C'mon, please just, trust me, I'm here to help, and I always will be..."
Scootaloo looked down at the table, her eyes tearing up again, but
just managing to hold back the crying which was threatening to escape
her.
"I-I've told you... I'm f-fine..."
Rainbow was still unconvinced, but decided that she'd bothered the
filly enough for one day.
